Women's Basketball

Hoppers career high not enough against Eastern Kentucky

Feb 04, 2010

RICHMOND, Ky. - The Tennessee Tech women's basketball team blew
out Eastern Kentucky when the two teams met earlier this season,
and it looked like the Lady Colonels would return the favor early
in Thursday's OVC contest at McBrayer Arena. However, Tech came
back from an early 17-point deficit to take the lead late before
falling to the fourth-place Lady Colonels, 61-60.

Tech's Tiara Hopper came off the bench to score a career-high 17
points, while Tacarra Hayes and Krystal Stirrup also finished in
double-figures with 16 and 13 points, respectively, as the Golden
Eagles shot 50.0 percent (22-of-44) from the field for the first
time this season.

Hopper finished 8-of-13 from the field for the game and also
added five rebounds in 31 minutes of action.

The game did not start as the Golden Eagles would have liked as
Eastern Kentucky jumped out to a 9-3 lead less than three minutes
into the game. Following a TTU timeout, Hayes' layup cut the
deficit to four, but the Lady Colonels scored on back-to-back
possessions to put EKU ahead, 14-5.

Eastern Kentucky kept the pressure on and scored the next eight
points as part of a 14-0 run, giving the Lady Colonels a 22-5 lead
before Stirrup's jumper ended Tech's scoreless drought.

Head coach Sytia Messer turned to her bench, and it paid off as
Hopper and sophomore Rachel Glidden gave the Golden Eagles an
instant lift. Less than 10 seconds after entering the game, Hopper
got loose underneath the hoop for a quick two, and Glidden
connected on a 3-pointer from the top of the key to help TTU cut
their deficit to 26-16.

Tech defense picked it up from there, forcing Eastern Kentucky
into several turnovers and holding the Lady Colonels to just two
points over the next seven-plus minutes. Tech cut its deficit to
five points, 28-23, during the stretch and the difference would
remain until halftime with a score of 34-29.

The Golden Eagles continued to chip away throughout the early
stages of the second half and cut the EKU lead to one on three
separate occasions, the last of which was on a jumper by Hayes to
bring the score to 42-41. After Tech forced EKU into a missed
reverse layup attempt, Kylie Cook spotted up from 25 feet and
knocked down the deep trifecta to give TTU its first lead of the
game with just over 13 minutes remaining in the game, 44-42.

A bucket by EKU on its next possession tied the game at 44-44,
and from that point, the game was played within two points for the
next six minutes until Hopper's hustle gave Tech another boost.
After deflecting a Lady Colonel pass into the backcourt, Hopper was
a step behind EKU's Alex Jones as they raced to track the ball
down, but the Louisville, Ky., native dove in front of Jones to
gain control of the ball and call timeout.

Following the play, Tech opened up a three-point advantage,
54-51, with just less than six minutes remaining in the game. After
EKU's Sarah Fraser-Jones converted on a three-point play to tie the
game, Hopper and Hayes got inside on two Golden Eagles possessions
to push their lead to its largest of the game, 58-54.

Eastern Kentucky closed the gap to two points, 58-56, inside of
two minutes, but Stirrup grabbed an offensive rebound and put it
back to against give the Tech a four-point lead with under a minute
to play.

However, EKU made a 3-pointer on its next possession to cut its
deficit to one, and the Lady Colonels immediately fouled Hayes, who
missed the front end of a one-and-one with less than 30 seconds
remaining. Eastern Kentucky's Shakeyia Colyer came down and put in
a layup that turned out to be the game-winner with 18 seconds
remaining in the game.

EKU missed a pair of free throws with five seconds remaining and
Hayes had a runner from the top of the key for the win, but it was
off the mark as the Lady Colonels snapped a six-game OVC losing
streak.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday, February 6 when
they travel to Morehead State for a 5:15 p.m. contest.